Recent Event – 2024 AGM

Dear Members and Friends,
The Friends of Gulf of St Vincent held their Annual General Meeting 2024 on Tuesday, 10 December 2024 at Henley Sailing Club, West Beach.
Janine Baker, Marine Ecologist travelled from Whyalla to give a short but comprehensive talk on the Syngnathidae. The Syngnathidae are a very interesting family of fishes with elongated snouts – the name means ‘fused jaw’, one of their main distinguishing features. The subfamilies are seahorses, pipefishes, seadragons and pipehorses. Examples of all these subfamilies are found in South Australia. Seahorses along with weedy and leafy seadragons are probably the species most people have heard of. As with many marine species, the Syngnathidae are unfortunately not as common as in the past but can still be found, often near our many SA jetties where they are sheltered from the wave action. They can be difficult to spot as they hide in plain sight amongst seagrasses and seaweeds, scarcely moving except with the current. Although fully protected in South Australia, threats include pollution and damage to their habitat, particularly removal of jetties and loss of seagrass and seaweed cover in shallow waters. Check them out on Google and Wikipedia.
Here is a link to our 2023-24 Financial Report. The Auditor’s Report is here.
To renew your FoGSV membership, please fill out our membership form at the below link. Payment details are included on the form:
We look forward to catching up with you in the New Year.
Till then, have a Merry Christmas.
Friends of Gulf St Vincent Committee

 

Friends of Gulf St Vincent Inc is a not-for-profit community group concerned about the condition and health of this unique body of water. Friends of Gulf St Vincent formed in 2003 in response to a perceived need for a coordinated approach by the coastal community to the protection and conservation of the gulf.

The northern gulf is shallow and rich with mangroves, which provide an important nursery for local fisheries. On its eastern side the gulf is bounded by Metropolitan Adelaide, and the Fleurieu Peninsula, with its backdrop of the Mount Lofty Ranges. Kangaroo Island, once part of the mainland, lies to the south west of the gulf. The eastern side of Yorke Peninsula forms the western side of the gulf.Our concern is that much damage has been done to the gulf since European settlement, and unless we work together we will lose even more of our clean, bountiful and spectacular gulf.At the first executive meeting, the following objectives were agreed

  1. To foster a unified community approach to the protection and wise use of Gulf St Vincent
  2. To advocate for
    • Conservation of marine and coastal environments
    • Protection of key habitats in the gulf
    • Sustainable use of marine resources.
  3. To promote awareness of issues relating to the health of Gulf St Vincent
  4. To provide a means of conveying community concerns to the government

FoGSV fosters greater public awareness of the gulf and its issues, as well as greater networking among member groups, by: organising Fora featuring South Australian  environmental experts; publicising events through a central calendar; organising excursions to particular sites and visits to local groups; producing educational resources etc.

Membership is open to everyone. We organise events about issues related to clean beaches, clean water, healthy seagrass meadows and reefs, as well as the plants and animals that can be found here. If you would like to become a member, please visit our Become a Member page for more details or if you prefer to be on our emailing list to hear about events, meetings, activities etc. please email us at friendsofgulfstvincent@gmail.com.

 

Banner image by Shav Bird | CC3.0 Attribution